South Korea / Asia

New York, January 29, 2009–A South Korean blogger in custody since January 7, charged with spreading false information online, should be set free, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Hong Kong, August 15, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned that the government of South Korea ordered home documentary filmmaker Kim Young Me from Iraq, where she was on assignment.

Detailed accounts of each imprisoned journalist.

ALGERIA: 2 Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995 Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four…

ALGERIA: 2 Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995 Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four…

AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…

NOVEMBER 15, 2005 Posted: December 2, 2005 New Tang Dynasty TV HARASSED Chang Sik Lee and Choi Seon Hee, reporters for New Tang Dynasty TV station, a New York-based independent Chinese television station, were banned from the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting in Busan, South Korea, according to news reports. Organizers said the reporters had…

Overviewby Abi Wright Threats to press freedom spiked throughout Asia in 2004, even as the news media claimed significant accomplishments. Across the region, 2004 was an election year, with citizens casting ballots in nations such as Afghanistan, whose landmark vote was peaceful and orderly, and India, where more than 370 million went to the polls.…

North Korea While foreign analysts kept guessing at the state of nuclear development in North Korea, one thing remained certain in 2004: There is no free press in the country, only government outlets that voice the pronouncements of Kim Jong Il’s authoritarian regime.

South Korea Innovative news coverage on the Internet added fresh viewpoints to the South Korean media, but the ruling Uri Party’s proposal for newspaper reform caused concern in 2004. The active and varied media, while politically divided, avidly covered political scandals, including the messy impeachment of President Roh Moo Hyun in March. While local television…